Light weight cellular structures based on aluminium

An interesting form of lightweight material which has emerged in the past 2 decades is metallic foam. This paper deals with the basic concepts of making metallic foams and a detailed study of foams produced from Al-SiC. In addition, some aspects of cellular solids based on honeycomb structures are outlined including the concept of producing both two-phase foams and foams with composite walls

Residual Stress, Mechanical Behavior and Electrical Properties of Cu/Nb Thin-Film Multilayers

Effect of compositional wavelength (modulation) on residual stress, electrical resistivities and mechanical properties of Cu/Nb thin-film multilayers sputtered onto single-crystal Si substrates, was evaluated. Electrical resistivities were measured down to 4 K using a standard 4-point probe. Differential specimen curvature was used to determine residual stress, and a microprobe was used to obtain hardness and elastic modulus. Profilometry, ion-beam analysis and TEM were used. Hardness of the Cu-Nb multilayers increased with decreasing compositional wavelength so that the layered structures had hardness values in excess of either constituent and the hardness predicted by the rule of mixtures. A peak in net residual compressive stress of the multilayers was observed at a compositional wavelength of 100 nm. No resistivity plateau was observed within the composition wavelength range studied

Plastic behavior of Cu/Ni multilayers

In order to study the plasticity in Cu-Ni multilayers deposited on single crystals of nanoindentation measurements, and by the transmission of well characterized dislocations from the underlying substrate by tensile deformation of Cu single crystals. Various multilayers were deposited by physical vapor deposition with layer thicknesses varying between 1,000 and 20 Angstroms (for a total thickness between 0.8 and 1 {micro}m). Two types of experiments were designed. The first one aimed at injecting, in a controlled way, some dislocations from the substrate into the multilayers; the second type of experiment concerned the structure of the multilayer surface after having plastically pushed the material away from a nanoindenter. This communication reports the results from the nanoindentation measurements, as well as the observations of slip on the surface. The authors observed through the injection of dislocations by nanoindentation that the multilayers increase in strength with refinement of the layer structure but at thicknesses below 35 {angstrom} exhibits a softening behavior. Also observation of the upheaval around the nanoindent showed an evolution from slip lines to more spread plasticity with refinement of the layer structure

Measure-Based Inconsistency-Tolerant Maintenance of Database Integrity

[EN] To maintain integrity, constraint violations should be prevented or repaired. However, it may not be feasible to avoid inconsistency, or to repair all violations at once. Based on an abstract concept of violation measures, updates and repairs can be checked for keeping inconsistency bounded, such that integrity violations are guaranteed to never get out of control. This measure-based approach goes beyond conventional methods that are not meant to be applied in the presence of inconsistency. It also generalizes recently introduced concepts of inconsistency-tolerant integrity maintenance.Partially supported by FEDER and the Spanish grants TIN2009-14460-C03 and TIN2010-17139Decker, H. (2013). Measure-Based Inconsistency-Tolerant Maintenance of Database Integrity. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. 7693:149-173. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36008-4_7S1491737693Abiteboul, S., Hull, R., Vianu, V.: Foundations of Databases. 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Springer, Heidelberg (2011)Decker, H.: Causes of the Violation of Integrity Constraints for Supporting the Quality of Databases. In: Murgante, B., Gervasi, O., Iglesias, A., Taniar, D., Apduhan, B.O. (eds.) ICCSA 2011, Part V. LNCS, vol. 6786, pp. 283–292. Springer, Heidelberg (2011)Decker, H.: Inconsistency-tolerant Integrity Checking based on Inconsistency Metrics. In: König, A., Dengel, A., Hinkelmann, K., Kise, K., Howlett, R.J., Jain, L.C. (eds.) KES 2011, Part II. LNCS, vol. 6882, pp. 548–558. Springer, Heidelberg (2011)Decker, H.: Partial Repairs that Tolerate Inconsistency. In: Eder, J., Bielikova, M., Tjoa, A.M. (eds.) ADBIS 2011. LNCS, vol. 6909, pp. 389–400. Springer, Heidelberg (2011)Decker, H.: Consistent Explanations of Answers to Queries in Inconsistent Knowledge Bases. In: Roth-Berghofer, T., Tintarev, N., Leake, D. (eds.) Explanation-aware Computing, Proc. IJCAI 2011 Workshop ExaCt 2011, pp. 71–80 (2011), http://exact2011.workshop.hm/index.phpDecker, H., Martinenghi, D.: Classifying integrity checking methods with regard to inconsistency tolerance. In: Proc. PPDP 2008, pp. 195–204. ACM Press (2008)Decker, H., Martinenghi, D.: Modeling, Measuring and Monitoring the Quality of Information. In: Heuser, C.A., Pernul, G. (eds.) ER 2009. LNCS, vol. 5833, pp. 212–221. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)Decker, H., Martinenghi, D.: Inconsistency-tolerant Integrity Checking. IEEE TKDE 23(2), 218–234 (2011)Decker, H., Muñoz-Escoí, F.D.: Revisiting and Improving a Result on Integrity Preservation by Concurrent Transactions. In: Meersman, R., Dillon, T., Herrero, P. (eds.) OTM 2010 Workshops. LNCS, vol. 6428, pp. 297–306. Springer, Heidelberg (2010)Dung, P., Kowalski, R., Toni, F.: Dialectic Proof Procedures for Assumption-based Admissible Argumentation. 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An Axiomatic Approach. In: Mellouli, K. (ed.) ECSQARU 2007. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 4724, pp. 103–114. Springer, Heidelberg (2007)Meyer, J., Wieringa, R. (eds.): Deontic Logic in Computer Science. Wiley (1994)Nicolas, J.M.: Logic for improving integrity checking in relational data bases. Acta Informatica 18, 227–253 (1982)Plexousakis, D., Mylopoulos, J.: Accommodating Integrity Constraints During Database Design. In: Apers, P.M.G., Bouzeghoub, M., Gardarin, G. (eds.) EDBT 1996. LNCS, vol. 1057, pp. 495–513. Springer, Heidelberg (1996)Rahm, E., Do, H.: Data Cleaning: Problems and Current Approaches. Data Engineering Bulletin 23(4), 3–13 (2000)Sadri, F., Kowalski, R.: A theorem-proving approach to database integrity. In: Minker, J. (ed.) Foundations of Deductive Databases and Logic Programming, pp. 313–362. Morgan Kaufmann (1988)Thimm, M.: Measuring Inconsistency in Probabilistic Knowledge Bases. In: Proc. 25th UAI, pp. 530–537. 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MTF-1-Mediated Repression of the Zinc Transporter Zip10 Is Alleviated by Zinc Restriction

The regulation of cellular zinc uptake is a key process in the overall mechanism governing mammalian zinc homeostasis and how zinc participates in cellular functions. We analyzed the zinc transporters of the Zip family in both the brain and liver of zinc-deficient animals and found a large, significant increase in Zip10 expression. Additionally, Zip10 expression decreased in response to zinc repletion. Moreover, isolated mouse hepatocytes, AML12 hepatocytes, and Neuro 2A cells also respond differentially to zinc availability in vitro. Measurement of Zip10 hnRNA and actinomycin D inhibition studies indicate that Zip10 was transcriptionally regulated by zinc deficiency. Through luciferase promoter constructs and ChIP analysis, binding of MTF-1 to a metal response element located 17 bp downstream of the transcription start site was shown to be necessary for zinc-induced repression of Zip10. Furthermore, zinc-activated MTF-1 causes down-regulation of Zip10 transcription by physically blocking Pol II movement through the gene. Lastly, ZIP10 is localized to the plasma membrane of hepatocytes and neuro 2A cells. Collectively, these results reveal a novel repressive role for MTF-1 in the regulation of the Zip10 zinc transporter expression by pausing Pol II transcription. ZIP10 may have roles in control of zinc homeostasis in specific sites particularly those of the brain and liver. Within that context ZIP10 may act as an important survival mechanism during periods of zinc inadequacy

TAT-Mediated Transduction of MafA Protein In Utero Results in Enhanced Pancreatic Insulin Expression and Changes in Islet Morphology

Alongside Pdx1 and Beta2/NeuroD, the transcription factor MafA has been shown to be instrumental in the maintenance of the beta cell phenotype. Indeed, a combination of MafA, Pdx1 and Ngn3 (an upstream regulator of Beta2/NeuroD) was recently reported to lead to the effective reprogramming of acinar cells into insulin-producing beta cells. These experiments set the stage for the development of new strategies to address the impairment of glycemic control in diabetic patients. However, the clinical applicability of reprogramming in this context is deemed to be poor due to the need to use viral vehicles for the delivery of the above factors. Here we describe a recombinant transducible version of the MafA protein (TAT-MafA) that penetrates across cell membranes with an efficiency of 100% and binds to the insulin promoter in vitro. When injected in utero into living mouse embryos, TAT-MafA significantly up-regulates target genes and induces enhanced insulin production as well as cytoarchitectural changes consistent with faster islet maturation. As the latest addition to our armamentarium of transducible proteins (which already includes Pdx1 and Ngn3), the purification and characterization of a functional TAT-MafA protein opens the door to prospective therapeutic uses that circumvent the use of viral delivery. To our knowledge, this is also the first report on the use of protein transduction in utero

Processing and mechanical properties of magnesium-lithium composites containing steel fibers

Deformation-processed metal-metal composites (DMMC) of Mg-Li alloys containing steel reinforcing fibers were prepared by infiltrating a preform of steel wool with the molten matrix. The Li content was varied to control the crystal structure of the matrix; Mg-4 wt pct Li is hexagonal close packed (hcp), while Mg-12 wt pct Li is body-centered cubic (bcc). The low carbon steel used as the reinforcing fiber is essentially bcc. The hcp/bcc and bcc/bcc composites were subsequently deformed by rolling and by extrusion/swaging and mechanically tested to relate the tensile strength of the composites to true deformation strain. The hcp/bcc composites had limited formability at temperatures up to 400 °C, while the bcc/bcc composites had excellent formability during sheet rolling at room temperature but limited formability during swaging at room temperature. The tensile strengths of the hcp/bcc composite rod and the bcc/bcc composite sheet and rod increased moderately with deformation, though less than predicted from rule-of-mixtures (ROM) calculations. This article presents the experimental data for these DMMC materials and comments on the possible effect of texture development in the matrix and fiber phases on the deformation characteristics of the composite material

α-thalassaemia

Alpha-thalassaemia is inherited as an autosomal recessive disorder characterised by a microcytic hypochromic anaemia, and a clinical phenotype varying from almost asymptomatic to a lethal haemolytic anaemia